Four-wheel drive (4WD) or rear-wheel drive (RWD) vehicles are generally equipped with a differential to transmit torque to the rear wheels of the vehicle. The differential is conventionally supported by being mounted to the vehicle body via a bushing.
The differential is usually located between first and second cross members that form the vehicle body by being welded to the vehicle body frame, and each first and second cross member is attached with a pipe by way of welding. The pipe is forcibly inserted by the bushing coupled to the differential. Thus, the differential typically is coupled to and supported by the cross members via rubber bushings.
However, when the rubber bushings need replacing due to wear and tear or the like, the entire vehicle body frame including the cross member should be replaced as the pipe and cross member are coupled together by welding. Therefore, some frame vehicles have a rear cross member module coupled to the vehicle body frame via bolts or the like for facilitating the attachment and detachment of the rear cross member module. However, the entire rear cross member module should still be removed for replacing the worn down bushing, resulting in excessive maintenance costs, time consumption, and deterioration of the working efficiency.
The identical drawback is prevalent in most monocoque type vehicles during maintenance.
During the vehicle assembly, the pipe is inserted and welded to the cross member. Next, the bushing is forcibly inserted into the pipe. However, since the pipe is pre-installed at the cross member, a large jig is required for an accurate insertion of the bushing, causing a complicated and inefficient assembly process.